The room was full of bright light with a glare so intense that I closed my eyes. A long table draped in a pure white linen cloth sat in the middle of the room. In the center of the table sat the Grail. It was out of my reach, and having it so far away made me nervous.
Sir Thomas sat quietly at the far end of the table, dressed in his familiar white tunic with a bright red cross across his chest. Smiling, he bade me to sit in a chair next to me. I sat.
Sir Thomas spoke. “You’ve done well, lad.”
I snorted.
“Sire, I have failed. Completely. I did what you asked. I made it safely to Tyre and found a ship, but a storm rose up, and now I have drowned and the Grail is lost with me,” I said, bowing my head, ashamed to have disappointed him.
“Tristan?”
I looked up.
“You’ve not failed me. The Grail is safe, as you can see,” he said.
Glancing at the chalice on the table, I shook my head, knowing I should not be in this room. I was drowning in the sea, and the Grail would perish with me. How could Sir Thomas say I had not failed? The only thing worse would have been for Sir Hugh to have taken it from me.
“Sir Thomas, I have no idea how I came to be here, but this is not right. The Grail has sunk to the bottom of the sea, and me with it. I am sorry, sire. Very truly sorry.”
He smiled and the white light of the room surrounded him. I heard a familiar humming sound, but now, instead of coming from the Grail, the noise surrounded me from all directions.
“Do not worry, lad,” Sir Thomas said. “You are safe. The Grail is safe.”
“Sire. .,” I replied, but Sir Thomas was no longer there, just the light and the sound.
My chair was gone and I was standing again, the Grail still in the center of the table. I grasped at it, but it remained out of reach. Sir Thomas now appeared beside me, holding a bucket of water in his hands. He said nothing, but dumped the bucket over my head, causing me to choke and sputter.
“Sir Thomas. . what. .,” but he was gone again.
The room shifted and I was thrown to the floor. Sir Thomas stood above me with another bucket of water. This time he threw it directly in my face and I swallowed a great deal of it. It tasted salty. When I looked up again, Sir Thomas was gone.
What had happened to me? Why didn’t he help me? I needed to reach the Grail and he was interfering. Was this some kind of test? Had I failed again?
I struggled to my feet, but the room was unsteady, as if some giant had picked it up and delighted in shaking it about. I lurched across the floor and crashed into the table. The Grail wobbled back and forth. Oh no.
In vain I tried to clamor forward. If I could reach it, I would secure it in my satchel where it would be safe until I figured a way out of this room. Then I would find the giant shaking it and slay it with my sword.
As suddenly as it started, the room ceased its tossing about. Sir Thomas was back, this time holding the Grail out to me.
“Good luck, Tristan,” he said. I took the cup in my hands, clutching it to my chest.
He was gone. The room was gone. Only the bright white light remained.
What had become of me?